THE Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) features two title fights when it unfurls its second offering for 2018 with “UFC 220” in Boston, Massachusetts, on Sunday with one local combat sports observer seeing the reigning champions having their work cut out for them against weighty challengers.
Headlining the UFC live event in Beantown is the heavyweight title clash between champion Stipe Miocic of the United States and Cameroonian challenger Francis “The Predator” Ngannou with the light heavyweight title battle of American champ Daniel “DC” Cormier against Swiss Volkan “No Time” Oezdemir serving as co-main event.
Mr. Miocic (17-2) will make his third title defense after ascending on top of the division in May 2016 and is looking to continue holding his belt.
But for Mike Miguel, combat sports writer and observer for RealFight.ph, the upcoming title defense presents a whole new challenge for Mr. Miocic.
“More often than not, champions usually head into a fight as a favorite. In this case however, Stipe enters this fight as the slight underdog in most odds and in the eyes of the fans thanks to Ngannou’s performance as of late,” said Mr. Miguel when asked by BusinessWorld for his thoughts on the headliner of UFC 220.
“In the division where anything can happen in an instant, anyone has the capability to change the course of the fight with just one punch and Ngannou possesses that — just like what he did to Overeem to earn a title shot,” he added.
Mr. Ngannou (11-1) has had it impressive in mixed martial arts, winning his last 10 fights, six in the UFC, all by stoppage.
In his last fight in December, The Predator devastatingly knocked out erstwhile top contender Alistair Overeem in the opening round, setting up the title clash with Mr. Miocic.
But Mr. Miguel is not counting out Mr. Miocic and his abilities vis-à-vis Mr. Ngannou, even going as saying that the champion could well retain his title in the end.
“Miocic can overcome Ngannou’s power by maximizing his speed and staying patience and combining that with his own power. Most fans tend to forget Miocic also has the power to knock people out and he has done that in his past four fights under one round against Junior Dos Santos and Fabricio Werdum in addition to Andrei Arlovski and Overeem. I’m looking at Stipe retaining his belt as long as he plays to his strength,” Mr. Miguel said.
CORMIER VS OEZDEMIR
Mr. Miguel also sees the same case in the Cormier-Oezdemir clash, recognizing how the Swiss challenger also has it in him to make things happen in the Octagon.
“Just like Ngannou, Oezdemir has that penchant to knock people out in a short time, which is something to be wary about if you are Cormier,” he said.
“However, against someone like a battle-tested champion in Daniel Cormier, it takes more than that to dethrone him. He should overcome DC’s smothering wrestling game with his reach to pick his spots, much like how Jon Jones did in the past,” Mr. Miguel added.
Other fights at UFC 220 at the TD Garden are featherweight Calvin Kattar against Shane “Hurricane” Burgos, light heavyweight Gian Villante versus Francimar “Bodao” Barroso, and bantamweight Thomas “Thominhas” Almeida (#10) against Rob Font (#14).
UFC 220: Miocic vs. Ngannou will be shown live on Sunday beginning at 11 a.m. over Hyper Ch. 91 in SD or 261 in HD on Cignal TV. Encore telecast is at 7 p.m. on the same day.
In the Philippines, Cignal TV, the country’s foremost direct-to-home (DTH) company, is the home of the UFC after the two groups agreed to an extensive deal that will see the UFC beamed on various platforms. — Michael Angelo S. Murillo
